Status of the Unitary Patent Court

At the beginning of 2017 the Preparatory Committee of the Unified Patent Court thought that it would be likely that the systems of the UPC would begin provisional operation before summer 2017 in advance of the UPC agreement coming into force later in the year. It appears likely that operation of the UPC system will be delayed for at least a further year.

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At the beginning of 2017 the Preparatory Committee of the Unified Patent
Court thought that it would be likely that the systems of the UPC would
begin provisional operation before summer 2017 in advance of the UPC
agreement coming into force later that year. It appears likely that launch
of the UPC system will be delayed for at least a further year.

There are two major reasons for this:

First, German ratification of the UPC agreement (a necessary step for
ratification and launch of the UPC) has been delayed by a referral to the
German Federal Constitutional Court. This challenge to the legality of the
UPC Agreement has had the results of that only limited further progress can
be made by the UPC preparatory committee. Effectively, German ratification
of the UPC agreement and beginning operation of the UPC are likely to be
postponed for a least a year.

Secondly, the continuing uncertainty associated with Brexit means that it
is likely that operation of the UPC will not begin until after the official
date of Brexit set by Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon - 29 March 2019.
However, it is expected that the UK will be in a position to ratify the UPC
Agreement on Thursday 15 February 2018 when the final piece of legislation
required to allow ratification of the UPC Agreement will be 'moved' onto
the floor of the Houses of Parliament to take effect. After this, the next
step will be for the Intellectual Property Office to request the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office ratify the UPC Agreement on behalf of the UK. While
the status of intellectual property in the Brexit negotiations is not known
to those not privy to the negotiations it appears reasonable to surmise
that ratification of the UPC Agreement might better allow substantive
negotiations to take place regarding Britain's place in the UPC system.

In conclusion, it appears unlikely that the UPC system will begin to
operate for at least another year.

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Our news articles are for general information only. They should not be considered specific legal advice, which is available on request.